If you play with matches you get burned.

Stage 16 results

1. Mickael Rasmussen (Dk), Rabobank,
2. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC, 01:41
3. Oscar Pereiro Sio (Sp), Banesto., 01:54
4. Cadel Evans (Aus), Lotto, 01:56
5. Andréas Klöden (G), Telekom, 01:56
8. Cyril Dessel (F), AG2r, 02:37
9. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Gerolsteiner, 03:24
11. Denis Menchov (Rus), Rabobank, 03:42
14. Damiano Cunego (I), Lampre, 04:21
17. Marcus Fothen (G), Gerolsteiner, 08:37
23. Floyd Landis (USA), Phonak, 10:04

Overall

1. Oscar Pereiro Sio (Sp), Banesto
2. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC, 01:50
3. Andréas Klöden (G), Telekom, 02:29
4. Cyril Dessel (F), AG2r, 02:43
5. Cadel Evans (Aus), Lotto, 02:56

Floyd Landis cracked and is now 8 minutes out of the lead. He can start thinking about what could have been. He played with fire by giving Pereiro 30 minutes and by failing to put his rivals away when they were in difficulty yesterday and in stage 11. His rivals gave him no such sympathy today, and so he was burned.

There are only 4 men within 3 minutes of Pereiro; one of them will probably win the Tour. In case you are wondering, Kloden had the best stage 7 time trial of these guys at +1:43. The others: Evans at +1:49; Sastre at +2:11; Pereiro at +2:41; Dessel at +3:42. Of course, considering how wacky things have been, there may be more surprises in store. There are lots of climbs in Stage 17. The last two days have been very exciting, so I’m hoping for more.

Kloden is riding tough and steady like we know he can. Sastre finally got the impetus to attack, and he looked really strong today. Evans did a great job holding on—he looked like he was really suffering. Pereiro and Dessel have been transformed by wearing the yellow jersey. Pereiro was listless in the Pyrenees, but he looked calm through most of the day and strong at the finish. Dessel is another story. I have no idea how this guy continues to hang with the big boys day after day.

Dots: Just when I say De la Fuente is looking good, he gets shut out on the day and Rasmussen goes wild.

White jersey: Cunego made up a lot of time on Fothen today. He’s now just 2:42 off Fothen’s lead (down from 12:15 on Sunday).

Team competition: CSC had a huge lead a couple days ago, but Telekom has closed to +2:23. Telekom finally had a stranglehold on the final climb and they really put the hurt on everyone else (except Carlos Sastre).